Solar Home "Nimbus Novem" At Beaucoast

Steve Exum is the president and principal photographer at Exum Photography, LLC. Exum is a North Carolina native who grew up in Raleigh. Steve, his wife Molly, their daughter Bella and son Sawyer live in Elon, NC with their dogs Cooper & Fisher. We purchased this house in Beaufort in the planned community of Beaucoast because we believe it would be both a perfect second home for trips to the coast and a great rental. This is one of two properties on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina we manage. We named the house Nimbus Novem (or Cloud 9 translated from Latin) because this was the name of our 1972, 29 foot Ericson Sailboat Molly and I bought in partnership with my dad, Jim Exum, in 1999 the same year Molly and I got married. The boat needed a lot of love and we spent countless hours making her our first floating vacation home in Oriental, NC. Our family learned a lot about sailing and life sailing her around the Neuse River and Pamlico sound. Our first overnight voyage to Ocracoke was a beautiful journey to the Outer Banks. The return trip however was test of fortitude and nerves as we white knuckled it through a series of horrible squalls in the shallow Pamlico sound. We lost our engine halfway across the sound requiring a tow back to our marina for repairs. That was just the beginning of so many adventures boating around the crystal coast. We also found buried treasure on Shackleford Banks but that's another story. We sold our sailboat in 2015 but the name Nimbus Novem was synonymous with Exum family adventures around the waters of Beaufort, Atlantic Beach and Morehead City. So we've named our Beaufort house in the Beaucoast community Nimbus Novem to keep the name alive.